Cavs down Hornets to stay undefeated at home

Despite having to tinker with their starting lineup due to injuries, the Cleveland Cavaliers remained undefeated at home by virtue of a 92-78 victory over the New Orleans Hornets at the Quicken Loans Arena on Friday night. LeBron James was "under the weather" with a severe head cold but it sure didn’t hurt his game as he came close to posting a "triple double" playing out of position at center as the Cavs used a small lineup to complete fluster the visiting Hornets.

It was a situation where nothing had gone right for the Cavs heading up to game time—they had travel delays returning from Chicago and didn’t arrive in Cleveland until 4 AM Friday morning in addition to injuries and several players aside from James suffering from a variety of illnesses—but the team responded to coach Mike Brown’s lineup changes and essentially had the game won by halftime when they went into the locker from with a 51-36 advantage.

Playing at center, James scored 29 points while pulling down 14 rebounds and contributing 7 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot. After the game LeBron credited the small lineup for taking New Orleans out of their rhythm early, but then confirmed that his move to center was far from permanent:

"I think the small lineup may have put them in a position they didn't want to be in or expect.

(On playing center) "Y'all know I'll do anything for my team. But that will have to be an every once in a while type thing."

Sasha Pavlovic made his first start of the season scored 19 points for the Cavs, while Mo Williams contributed 17 and Wally Szczerbiak 15. David West led the Hornets with 23 points, while Chris Paul added 18 points with 7 rebounds and six assists. After the game, Hornets’ coach Byron Scott expressed his disappointment in how the team responded to the unexpected small lineup matchup they faced:

The true difference between the teams, is the fact that they were playing with a purpose as far as winning the championship and I don't know if we are playing with that same purpose. It is very frustrating, but I told the coaches that I'm not going to lose sleep over guys not giving it everything they've got every single night. That's out of my control. There's nothing I can do about that."

New Orleans will travel to Detroit for a game against the Pistons on Saturday night before returning home to face Indiana on Monday and New Jersey on Wednesday. Cleveland embarks on a tough west coast road swing this weekend with a game in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Monday, in Portland on Wednesday and at Golden State on Friday.